HOUSTON — On the 10-day countdown leading up to Beyoncé's new album, the 32-time Grammy-winning singer revealed the highly-anticipated album artwork and her inspiration behind making the project.
"Act II: Cowboy Carter" arrives March 29. The album already spawned two hits, "Texas Hold 'Em" and "16 Carriages."
The Houston native made her first-ever appearance on Billboard's Hot Country Songs with "Texas Hold 'Em," charting at No. 1, making her the first Black woman artist to do so, according to Billboard.
"Texas Hold 'Em" also reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, a week after it debuted at No. 2. This made her the first Black woman to top the Hot 100 chart with a country song.
In a post to social media Tuesday, Beyoncé said these record-breaking achievements wouldn't have been possible without the outpouring of support from everyone.
"My hope is that years from now, the mention of an artist’s race, as it relates to releasing genres of music, will be irrelevant," she said.
She went on to say Act II: Cowboy Carter is an album over five years in the making that was "born out of an experience that I had years ago where I did not feel welcomed and it was very clear that I wasn’t."
Many fans on social media speculate that the "unwelcoming" experience Beyoncé is referring to was when she performed her song "Daddy Lessons" alongside The Chicks at the Country Music Association Awards in 2016.
According to Billboard, there was backlash before Beyoncé even took the stage. A preshow announcement teasing her performance sparked calls for a CMAs boycott on social media, with some people blasting the awards show for including Bey.
After the performance, there was no mention of Beyoncé's appearance on the CMAs website, according to Billboard.
Because of the "unwelcoming" experience, the singer said she decided to take a deeper dive into the history of Country music and studied the "rich musical archive."
The global superstar said the criticism she faced when she first entered the Country music genre "forced" her to go past the "limitations" that were put on her.
"Act II is a result of challenging myself, and taking my time to bend and blend genres together to create this body of work," she said in the post.
Cowboy Carter will come with a few surprises, as well as collaborations with "brilliant artists" Beyoncé "deeply respects."
"I hope that you can hear my heart and soul, and all the love and passion that I poured into every detail and every sound," she said.
Beyoncé said she hopes her new music is an experience and creates "another journey where you can close your eyes, start from the beginning and never stop."
"This ain’t a Country album. This is a “Beyoncé” album. This is act II COWBOY CARTER, and I am proud to share it with y’all," she said.